


Sleeping Beauty Has a Forgotten Name

by AmateurScribes



Series: Whumptober 2019 [10]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coma, Gen, Prompt Fic, Sleep, Time Travel, Unconscious, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 23:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20983901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmateurScribes/pseuds/AmateurScribes
Summary: Grif used to joke around and say that if he could choose to nap forever, that he would.Simmons doesn't find the joke so funny anymore.





	Sleeping Beauty Has a Forgotten Name

**Author's Note:**

> I got really excited to write this once I figured out how exactly I was going to do it, so I hope you guys all enjoy it!
> 
> For the duration of this event, all mistakes are my own.

Bringing his intertwined hands together, Simmons just stared at the slumbering and peaceful slumbering form of Grif.

But then he turns to Grey and asks, "So there's nothing- at  _ all- _ to be done?"

The doctor shook her head and looked remorseful, responding, "I'm sorry, Captain Simmons. There's just nothing that I can do to wake him up."

"Right, of course," he sighed, looking back at the other man. "Right."

Grey placed her hand gently on his shoulder, but he only flicked his eyes in her direction.

"We'll make sure that he's safe and comfortable here," she reassured. "He'll be in the best of care."

"I know, it's just-" he took in a shaky breath, reaching up to rub his eyes. "I'm sorry, I think I need to take a walk. When- um, when do visiting hours end?"

She shook her head, saying, "We can make an exception for you, Simmons. Don't worry about visitation hours."

"Thank you, Grey," he said sincerely, getting up from his chair. "I- thanks."

"Anything for you, Captain," she said, stepping aside. "I need to check on the others, but I expect that I'm going to be seeing a lot of you in these coming days."

"Yeah," his eyes didn't leave the still form of Grif. He had a feeling that he was going to spend most of his days in the hospital.

He walked out of the wing, passing by the similarly still bodies of Bitters and Matthews, and a number of other Gold Team members too, as he made his way out of the half-finished hospital.

Simmons isn't even sure how everything had gone so wrong so quickly for Gold Team. They were the only team to not have been incapacitated during the final battle for Chorus- barring Matthews, who bounced back just as quickly as Grif tended to do- and as such, it was them that Kimball assigned to check out the various alien temples still scattered around the planet.

It was supposed to have been a simple mission, and  _ yet- _

And yet the whole team went silent for  _ three days _ before they all realized. And then it was Simmons and the other Reds and Blues rushing to the temple only to find it encased in an amber force field that immediately went down upon their presence.

Rushing in, they found body after body of Gold Team, all alive- thank  _ God- _ but unconscious. Their breathing was steady, heart beating like normal, but asleep. And no amount of shaking had woken any of them up.

It was Simmons who found the unconscious body of Grif, laid across the floor near a panel of some sort, with Bitters and Matthews not too far behind.

It took a lot of going back and forth and making calls to get all of the bodies back to the temporary base. All of the medical professionals were in a tizzy, trying their best to figure out why no one was waking up.

Simmons spent a lot of that time wringing his hands as he watched Grey do test after test trying to figure out what was wrong.

Santa was the one who helped them figure out what happened, told them all they needed to know about that Temple.

The Temple of Rest and Simmons could fill in what happened from there. Santa must have told Grif what the temple's purpose was, and he can just see the way that the wheels must have turned in the other man's head, thinking that that was exactly what the planet and it's people needed after ending the war.

And yet somehow they all ended up in unbreakable comas, but only them and no one else.

Simmons guesses that he should be grateful that the temple only effected them and not everyone on the planet. That'd be terrible if everyone fell into an endless slumber with no one to help them get out of it.

He just wishes that they had known that the temple did this before it had claimed the entirety of Gold Team.

Even Santa seemed confused but attributed it to the differences in human physiology. 

Kimball assured them that they were trying to figure out a way to reverse the effects of the temple.

Grey told him that it was more likely that the effects would wear off in time. But she didn't know how long that would take.

Simmons wasn't so sure that he could wait that long for Grif to wake up.

But he'd visit every day, even if it meant that he'd have to sit around in silence. He didn't want to speak, didn't know what he would say anyhow.

And he knows that he was being a nuisance to the nurses who were just trying to do their jobs, but he couldn't help scrutinize everything they did.

He just didn't like the idea of anyone taking care of Grif when he wasn't able to object or allow it. And Simmons certainly didn't want them to handle his body- dressing him, cleaning him,  _ all of it- _ but Grey could only be sympathetic to a point before she threatened him with kicking him out of the hospital.

So he just had to grit his teeth and deal with.

It didn't even occur to him how long it'd been until Tucker was tentatively approaching him with plans that the others had made to retire.

"To a moon?" he asked, furrowing his brow. "And we'd be the only people there?"

"Yeah," Tucker nodded. "We all agreed that it's best if we finally have a chance to settle down, and we figured you'd agree."

"I don't know..." he hesitated, looking towards Grif. "I don't think I'd be comfortable being so far away from any sort of medical professional, I mean- what if something happens to Grif!"

Guilt flashed across Tucker's face, but that didn't stop him from saying, "Simmons, we're not bringing Grif with us."

"What?" Simmons felt like he had been punched in the gut, he just couldn't fathom what Tucker was saying to him. "Are you just saying that we should just  _ leave _ here all alone?!"

"I hate it as much as you do," and Simmons wanted to call the man out on his lie. "But it wouldn't be safe to move him- as you said- and we really can't stay here. Too many bad experiences, man."

And Simmons becomes critical of the other man's slouch, the way that he had bags under his eyes, and he fights hard to keep a snarl off of his face.

"You just want to leave because Church died, don't you?" he accused. He can see that it's the truth given the way that the Blue stiffens, and he just doesn't understand how the death of one friend could convince someone to  _ abandon _ another.

Grif didn't deserve this, even if he wasn't awake to recognize the betrayal happening right before Simmons' eyes.

"Look, you don't have to come with," Tucker said, avoiding eye contact. "But if you ask me, I think it could be good for you. It's not like he's going to wake up any time soon."

"You don't know that," he immediately snaps, hackles raised.

"Just think about it," Tucker ignores his resentment, and Simmons would probably be grateful for it later, but right now he wants to provoke the other man into fighting him. 

But Tucker must have seen how he was baiting him, so he turned and left, leaving Simmons alone to make a decision.

And he labored over it for a few days, because after he had cooled down, he could see the point Tucker was trying to make.

Simmons was wasting away right alongside Grif by sitting at his bedside and doing nothing else.

And he figured that it wasn't likely that Grif or any of the other Gold members would wake up anytime soon. But if they did, he was sure that Grey would call him about the development.

So the day that they planned to leave, he made one last visit to Grif.

This time he stood, staring at the slumbering body, and he swallowed harshly, having to clear his voice.

"They say that people in comas can hear everything people say to them," he started awkwardly. "And I- I just wanted to let you know that we're going to be leaving for a little while."

There was no change because of his voice, so he's glad he didn't waste his breath speaking in past visits. It would've made him feel silly like it did now.

"I'm sorry," he blurts out, feeling his guilt eating at him. "For this happening to you, and for not- for not being able to help out more. I'm also very sorry for leaving."

He doesn't say goodbye, because he couldn’t stand to hear nothing in response. Saying goodbye felt too final, and he wasn't leaving for good anyhow.

But he's not able to relax at all on Iris, always checking his messages to see any updates from Grey only to see nothing. Even though the others are having the time of their lives, he can't help but sit alone on top of the base and stare in silence.

He's ashamed at how excited he got when that reporter came to the moon with news from Chorus, and from the way that she framed it, he really thought that they had all woken up- every member of Gold Team.

But, of course, it's all about Church.

That forgotten resentment that he had harbored towards Tucker almost returned and threatened to swallow him whole, but he kept it down since it seemed like he was the  _ only _ one who found it unfair.

And then, of course, that only led them to more adventure despite the whole point of them retiring was so that they could finally settle down and  _ rest. _

And,  _ of course, because what else was fucking knew with them, _ everything went to shit very quickly with the Blues and Reds.

Does it make him a horrible person that he's actually relieved that Church hadn't returned when the truth was brought into the light?

He doesn't feel mad or heartbroken like Tucker or Caboose. He's actually kind of happy, in a twisted sort of way- felt that it was only  _ fair. _

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he notes that it's been a year since Grif fell into the coma.

And somehow they save the day like always, but then Kai is suddenly there and very much alive, and Simmons is right back into thinking that the world and the universe aren't very fair at all.

He refuses to be the one to break the news to her, leaves that role to Tucker.

Simmons tries his best to block out her yelling and eventually her wailing.

But Kai isn't given much time to grieve before they're snapped right back into another perilous adventure, as if they were controlled by life like a boomerang, everything just came right back to their roots.

But this time their adventure involves  _ time travel _ and the uses for it don't really pop into his mind until he had helped Sarge construct his ultimate Red Team.

And he realized that they were one year in the future.

Which made that not so distant one year anniversary into a  _ two year anniversary. _

And because they had been gallivanting through time, that meant that he wasn't able to receive any sort of update from Grey.

Which meant that there was quite possibly  _ some _ sort of  _ hope. _

Simmons didn't really care that they were technically in the middle of huge adventure, he jumped on the first transport to Chorus from the movie set.

And while the development of New Armonia had shocked him, in the beginning, it didn't stop him from immediately seeking out Grey in the finished General Doyle General Hospital.

Speed walking to the secretaries desk, he watched as the worked looked up from her papers and greeted him, asking him which patient he was there to visit.

"I'm here to see Dexter Grif," he said, slightly rushed.

The secretary stilled, before holding up her pointer finger and saying, "Just a moment please, can I have your name?"

"Richard Simmons," he supplied, but he wasn't sure if the name meant anything to her. It held weight with people who had fought on Chorus during the war, so he figured that she must have been from out of the planet.

She picked up the phone and began dialing a number when a very familiar voice called out to her saying, "No need, dearie. He's with me."

Turning around he saw the melancholy form of Grey, and that concerned him because she had managed to stay cheerful all throughout the war, but he didn't even want to imagine what could have forced her to drop that facade.

"It's been a very long time, Captain," she gestured for him to follow her, and he did so not even pausing to thank the secretary.

Not in the mood for pleasantries, he rudely asked, "Has there been any development? Any change, any- any sign that he's going to wake up."

Grey tilted her head down but didn't stop walking.

She glanced at him, and he could tell that she was struggling to find something to say.

"Some have woken up," she settled on, and his heart did a little skip just at hearing that. "Most of the lower ranking Gold Team members, but they still need intensive care- they're here for physical therapy, you see."

He's paying attention to every word she says, and Simmons wasn't an idiot, he could tell that she hadn't said anything about Grif's status yet.

But people had woken up, which meant that they  _ could _ and that it wasn't  _ permanent. _

And that was all that he needed to hear to reignite the hope he had.

"Matthews has woken up, but he's very dazed and out of it mentally," she continued as they headed towards an isolated wing. It was very silent as they passed by rooms, he could see various awake and tired Gold Team members being attended by nurses. "Bitters has been more responsive- we've been getting a lot of muscle twitching from him, so we figure that he should wake up very soon."

They had finally stopped at a singular room, the windows tinted, but bright lights from the equipment lit up the room in small areas, highlighting the shadowed figure on the bed.

Grey opened the door and turned on the lights, which were much dimmer than the last time that Simmons had visited Grif.

And there the other man was, no sign of life or movement at all.

Concerned, Simmons turned to Grey and asked, "What about Grif?"

"Nothing from him," Grey bowed her head, moving closer to the bed and adjusting the blanket slightly. "Everyone else exhibited some sort of sign that they were close to waking up, but we've had nothing from Captain Grif so far."

And Simmons' heart sunk low into his stomach, and he felt his eyes water uselessly.

Swallowing the lump in his throat and doing his best not to choke on his words, he asked the only thing that his mind supplied, "Why?  _ Why him?" _

Grey didn't answer him for a moment, just taking a second to stare at Grif's limp form.

Then she turned to stare at him straight on as she answered, "I suppose the temple figured that he needed the most rest out of them all. And he must have been  _ very _ tired, Captain."

**Author's Note:**

> The frustration of not being able to help any of the Gold Team members soured Grey's optimistic facade, and because war times were over she didn't need to pretend everything was splendid anymore, she was slowly able to come out of it. But unfortunately for the worst circumstances.
> 
> If you'd like to chat with me, you can find me at either of my Tumblr's: @agent-murica (main) and @amateurscribes (main).


End file.
